Machine



April 13 1926. 1,580,387

- A. D. STEWART AL KNi'rTInG MACHINE Filed'oct. 50, 1924 "2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTEIRE.

LLLQEJW April 13 1-926. 1,580,387 A. D. STEWART ET AL KNITTING MACHINE 4 Filed Oct. 30, 1924 v ZSheets-Sheet 2 4 15 Llllm II: 6 KLEIEA:

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INVE N T UB5 Patented Apr. 13, 1926.

ALEXANDER-D. STEWART ANnEnGAnW. CLARKE, or HAMILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA,

ASSIGNORS TO MERCURY MI LsLn rITE CANADA. o

kmTrrmG anorrm-n,

A pplicati on filedOctober30, 1924., Serial-No. 746,865.:

To alltuhome'tmag concern:

Be it known that we, ALEXANDER DJSTEW" ART and EDGAR lV. CLARKE, of the cityof Hamilton, in the county"of lVentworth, Province'of Ontario, Canada,'subjects of the King of Great Britain, certain new and Knitting Machines, of which'the "following is a specification.

This invention relates 'to knitting machines and moreparticularly to thecircular type of knittingmachines for automatically knitting ribbed hose, in which type upper and lower cylinders are provided and the needles are trans'ferable'from one cylinder to the other as desired, whereby the hose may be partially knittedplain and with y'arious widths of ribs. The general practicev is to-knit the heel, the toe and the sole porby feeding 'tions of the hose plain, the and the cuff being ribbed. hose the toe, heel, and cuff thereof are generally formed of stronger yarn such as cotton and usually these parts are reinforced two yarns at the same time to the needles. In machines of the above type only one type of yarn can be positioned for feeding the needles at one time.

Heretofore itrhas been the practice to stop the "machine, when the desired point is reached to change'the yarn,and manually break the yarn being fed tothe needles and then tie the end of this yarn to the end of another yarn so that the new yarnwill be fed to the needles. The object of the present invention is to provide simple mechanism for automatically knotting the threads in 'machines of the above type. V 7

We attain our object by means of the constructions hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in 'which I Fig. lis a plan view of an automatic rib hose knittingv machine showing the knotter and yarn selecting mechanism thereon and the means for controlling the operation thereof; 1 I

Fig. 2 an end elevation thereof;

F '3 an enlarged plan view ter and yarn selecting mechanism; v

Fig. a an end elevation of thesame;

' Fig. 5a rear view of the same; b

Fig. 6' a view similar to'Fig. 4 showing instep, the leg have invented useful Improvements in as the pattern shaft 7.

In knitting silk 1 opening 8 formed in or, the knot-' needles.

' only the actuating parts for the knotter and yarn selecting mechanism;

front view of some oftheparts f shown in Fig. ,6;

Fig. l a

"Fig; 8 a rear new of} the yarn selecting mechanism and LFig. 9 a view illustrating one type of hose formed on the rib hose knitting machine,

"1 is theframe of an ordinary circular automatic rlb hose machine on whichframe arefrsuitably carried-the upper and lower needle cylinders and-2%, andthe tray' 3. A drive shaft 4- provided with a pulley 5 is FHA IQT N; r'n'ov-mon OF ONTARIO,

adapted torota-te the cylinders. Thepattern mechanism of this machine includes apattern chain 6 mounted on asp'rocketsecured In this type of machine the needles are transferable from one cylinder to yarn being the other which necessitates the fed to the needles througha feed aQsu-itable part and located substantially opposite the adjacent ends of the said cylinders, The above type I of knitting machine is. shownand described in Canadian Patent 161,697-and is well known in the art.

(.These rib hose machines are adaptedto V knit a-complete stockingand are thereforeprovrded wrthmeans (not-shown) for auto-' matically changing therotary motion of the V needle cylinders into a rotary reciprocating motion forfknittino; the heel and-toe of the hose.

As hereinbeforementioned it is the usual custom to reinforce the heel and toe of i the hose and when silk hose-is being knitted a stronger and cheaper yarn 1S usedin makmg the heel, toe and cuff of the hose. This is illustrated in Fig. 9 of the 'drawings in which-the cuff c is formed of two strands of cotton yarn, the leg portionll one strand of silk fyarn, the heel it two cotton yarns,

the sole and instep, portions 8 and 2' respectively one silk yarn, and the toe t two cotton arns.

flo knit this. particular hose it requires four changes inzthe yarns fed to'the needles and heretofore these changes have been made by the operator, who had to break the thread being fed to the needles and tie the new thread to the end thereof so that p the old thread would feed the new thread through the feed openings and thus to the VVhen'knitting ribbed hose having a plurality of different colors, the colored yarns have heretofore been also changed by the operator in the manner just described.

In F 3 to 8 are shown a knotter and yarn selecting means, both being known in the art and therefore only briefly described. The knotter includes a bill hook K which is operated by suitable mechanism (not shown) from the lever K. The said mechanism is provided with a cover K and is suitably carried on a i "ame 9 carried on standards 10 secured to a base 11. This base is suitably secured to a bracket 12 which is secured to the rear side of the frame 1. The lever K is fulcrumed at K see Fig. 3, and is adapted to actuate the jaws K which are adapted to grasp the thread being fed to the needles while the bill hook is tying a knot. A spring K tends to hold the lever K in its inoperative position. An arm K", having a pin and slot connection with the lever K, is socured to a vertical spindle K journalled in the frame 9 and bracket 12. At the lower end of this spindle is secured an arm K pro.- vided with an anti-friction roller, the purpose of Which will hereinafter be described.

The yarn selecting means includes a plurality of movable yarn guiding fingers S, S 8*, each having a hole formed at its extremity, through which the yarns are led from the bobbins. The bobbin 13 shown in Fig. :2, carries the silk thread used for the portions Z, 2' and s of the hose and this thread is led through the guide finger S. Each of the bobbins 1d carries a cotton yarn for knitting the portions 0, 7L and if of the hose, both yarns being led through the guide finger S To make the hose hereinbefore described, which is of the simplest type, it only requires two of the guide fingers being used, but with other styles of hose it may be necessary to use all the fingers and if desired more fingers could be added, each finger carrying a different quality or color of yarn from its bobbin. The threads passing through the guide fingers are passed between fixed guide plates S and S which are suitably carried by the frame 9, see Figs. 4 and 5. The thread or threads running to the feed opening 8 are passed through the guide 15, the spring tension guide 16 and any desired number of other guides suitably positioned to lead the thread to the said opening as shown in Fig. 2. The end of each inactive thread is held by means of a clamp indicated at S in Fig. l. This clamp is also known in the art and therefore not shown in detail and is hereinafter briefly described.

f swinging arm carried on a bevel pinion S meshing with teeth formed in the s de of disk 53 is ridotted to carry an inive yarn or yarns passing through any one of the yarn guiding lingers together u'iti the yarn or yarns feeding the needles. to the knott The disk 53 secured to a shaft- S and is connected by a link 3 with slidal'ily and rotatably mounted on the shaft S is adapted to engage any one of the fingers to depress it to the position indicated in dot-ted lines in The sector is rotarily moved by means a pin S carried by the disk S, which pin passes through the so; tor and is eccentric to the s raft S. The sector is moved ax t e shaft S bV 0 means of an arm 8 which engages a groove formed in a collar S formed on or secured to the sector. This arm is secured to a spindle S axially movable in the frame 9 and is provided with a pin S adapted to be received in a cam slot formed in a cam S secured to one arm of a bell crank fulcrunied on the shaft S. This pin and slot connection is so arranged that the sector maybe positioned over any one of the yarn guiding fingers depending on the amount of rotary movement imparted to the bell crank S The other arm of the latter is connected by a .link S with an arm S loosely mount ed on the spindle S This arm is connected by means of a pin S with a cam S having high and low portions, formed on its caiii surface, adapted to engage a pawl S suitably carried on the arm S A spring S tends to position the bell crank so that the sector is normally in engagement with the finger S and the pawl 0 in eng with the high portion of the cam S S carried by an arm S pivoted on the spindle S is adapted to engage the pawl when the. cam S has been rotarily 0 moved to bring the pawl into engagement with the low surface thereof. i

To actuate the arm K for operating the knotter and to actuate the dog S for operatuig the selecting means, we provide a shaft 17 journalled in the bracket 12 and in a bearing 18 secured to the frame 1. This shaft is driven by gearing 19 from the drive shaft 4: and is provided with an eccentric S suitably connected with the. arm 8 so that the latter, and thus the dog S are constantly oscillated when the machine is in motion. The gear 19 is provided with a cam 20 adapted to engage the anti-friction roller on the end of the arm K N rmally this roller is held out of engagement with t e cam by means of a lateral projection K", secured to the. spindle K, and adapted to rest on the periphery of the sector S". il hen the latter is rotated, as hereinbefore described, the projection is lowered until he arm K engages the top of the frame 9, this tern mechanism is provided assess? 1 the shat'tiZl and thus a sprocket 25 secured- This sprocket carries an auxiliary thereto. pattern sprocket chain26 havinga plurality of projections 27 and 27 forme'd on or secured thereto. These projections are adapted to engage an'ant-i-friction' arollcr carried on a lever 28 pii' otedon the bearing 18 and having a pin and slot connection with the first mentioned arm of the bell crank lever '8 It will be noted that the projections 27' and 27 are of different heights so that the amount of movement imparted to the lever 28. and thus thelbell crank will be variedto vary the position of the selector S. It will be understood that a projection will be provided on the auxiliary pattern chain for each yarn guiding finger in use. I

To control the operation of the ratchet wheel 22 we provide the following means. A lever 29 pivoted intermediate its ends on lugs 30 secured to the "underside of the tray 3 is adaptedto be'engaged by projections 31 formed on or securedto' the links ofthe primary pattern chain-'6; The opposite end of the lever 29 is provided with a 'pawl32 adapted to engage the ratchet wheel'QQ whereby the latter will be partially rotated when the lever is engaged by one ofthe irojezticns 31. This movement 'ot the ratchet wheel is sufficient to permit stantly operated pawl 23 to engage the normal teeth on the ratchet wheel and thus rotate the latter until the pawl engages the nett blank tooth 22. \Vhile'the ratchet wl'icel is being picked theauxiliary pattern chain 26 is also being driven to cause'one of the projections thereon to engage the roller on the'lcver 28 actuate it as hercinbetore descri bed.

Assuming a stocking has just been finished and the cotton yarns from the bobbins 1 14: are being fed through the finger S beshown in tween the guideplates S and 8", through the guide and spring tension guide l6to the feed opening Send them to theneedles, the mode of operation to knit the hose Fig. 9 is as follows. The silk yarn from the bobbin 13is led through'i-ts finger S, between the plates S and S and the end thereof held in the cl'a'1npS The cuff c is then knitted and-when the desired the. conpoint for start-h1g the leg portion- Z is reached one 'ofthe -projecti onsfil' engages the lever wheel 22' and thus permit the constantly operated pawl 23 to pi'ckfit. The intermittent motion thus imparted to "the shaft '21 causes the s'pr oc'ket 25torotate the auxiliary pattern cliain 26 and thus causes the-projec-' tion 27 to rock the lever:28' which rocks' the' bell crank S. It will be noted that the slot in the cam S first extends at'right angles to thearrisofthe-spindleS and is then inclined 'to' the said'axis. This'ena-bles the cam to be* slightly moved with the bell crank without shifting the -*sector S ,the slight movementofthebell-crank-being necessary I I to cause the high portion of the cam S The constantly operated dog' S -then engages the pawl S andpushesit up tothe bil'l'hook'K and the jaws Kt. As the sector is rotated the projection K is lowered t0 bring the roller onithe, cam K into the path of the constantly "rotating cam '20 "whlch causes the knotter operating'spindle Kto 'befpartly revolved-to operate the knotter totielthe'kn'ot, The jaws K are also operated by this'sp'indle to grasp the yarns to take the tension of the running -rthre'ads ofithe bill hook and at the same time-draw down the tension guide 16 which is adapted to 'provide'suflicient' slack in the running threads to permit the knot being tied. The knotter is alsoadapted to cut off the ends of the tied threads close to the knot. The knotteroperating spindle K? also causes the clamps to engage the running threads below thebill hook'and draw. the ends of these threads 'into the -'clamp so that they.

can be positioned for engagement with the 'swinging'arm when its-is desired to use these threads again. i

. The disk S and thus all the parts of the V to be niov'ed out of engagement with the'pawl llO selecting means' and the-knotter actuating armli arereturned to their normal pos1 tions bymeans of the dog S The upper end of this dog isadaptedto engage an adjusting on the arms, see Figs. 4 to 7. The angle silk thread is'now carriedto the needles by means of theold threads as shown inFigs.

4 am whflthe'heel his reached the cotton threadsbre' substituted for I the silk screw S threaded in a lug formed thread which change is made in the same manner as the one ust described except that the projection 27* will move the lever 28 through a slightly longer are than that caused. by the projection 2'? so that the sector spindle S will be axially moved to position the sector S" over the finger S *hich will cause this finger to be depressed to bring the cotton threads into the path of the swinging arm S After the heel is knit the feeding yarn is changed again from cotton yarns to a silk yarn as described, and when the toe is reached the cotton yarns are substituted for the silk yarn. As the cuff of the hose is formed of cotton it will not be necessary to make any further changes in the knitting yarn until the leg portion Z of the next hose is reached.

hat we claim is 1. The combination in a circular knitting mechanism for knitting ribbed hose, of a pattern shaft having primary pattern mechanism mounted thereon; a knotter attachment including a plurality of movable yarn guiding lingers, a swinging arm adapted to carry threads to the knotter and selecting means adapted to actuate any one of the fingers to position its thread in the path of the yarn; a second pattern shaft; means for actuating the swinging arm and the select ing means; auxiliary pattern mechanism for controlling the actuating means carriedon the second shaft; and means for actuating the auxiliary pattern mechanism controlled by the primary pattern mechanism.

2. The combination in a circular knitting machine for knitting ribbed hose, of a pattern shaft having primary pattern mechanism mounted thereon; a knotter attachment including a plurality of movable yarn guiding fingers, a swinging arm adapted to carry threads to the knotter, and selecting means adapted to actuate any one of the ingers to position its threads in the path of the arm; a second pattern shaft; means for actuating the swinging arm and the selecting means; auxiliary pattern mechanism for controlling the actuating means carried on the second shaft; and actuating means for the auxiliary pattern mechanism including a lever adapted to be engaged by the primary pattern mechanism to cause the auxiliary pattern mechanism actuating means to function.

3. The combination in a circular knitting machine for knitting ribbed hose,of a pattern shaft having primary pattern mechanism mounted thereon; a knotter attachment including a plurality of movable yarn guiding fingers, a swinging arm adapted to carry threads to the knotter and selecting means adapted to actuate any one of the fingers to position its thread in the path of the arm; a secondpattern shaft; means for actuating the swinging arm and the selecting means; auxiliary pattern mechanism for controlling the actuating means carried on the second shaft; a ratchet Wheel carried on the second shaft and adapted to drive the auxiliary pattern mechanism, the ratchet wheel having a blank tooth; a lever having one end in engr reinent with the primary pattern mechan' 111; constantly driven means adapted to pier: the ratchet wheel and normally travelling across the blank tooth thereof; and a pawl carried on the end of the lever remote from the primary pattern mechanism and adapted to rock the ratchet wheel when the lever is rocked to permit the picking means to rotate the ratchet Wheel.

The combination in a circular knitting machine for knitting ribbed hose, of a pattern shaft having primary pattern mechanism mounted t iereon; a knotter attachment including a plurality of movable yarn guiding lingers, a swinging arm adapted to carry threads to the knotter, and selecting means adapted to actuate any one of the fingers to position its thread in the path of the arm; a. second attern t; means for actuating the lznotter, the swi gin arm and the selecting means; auxiliary pattern mechanism for controlling the actuating means carried on the second shaft; and means for actuating xiliary pattern mechanism controlled the a by the primary pattern mechanism.

The combination in a circular knitting machine for knitting ribbed hose, of a pat tern shaft having primary pattern 1nechanisin mounted thereon: a knotter adapted to join one thread to another; a drive shaft for the machine having a gear secured thereto; a pinion meshed with the gear and provided with a cam adapted to actuate the knotter; a second pattern shaft; means for controlling the operation of the knotter including auxiliary pattern mechanism and the latter being carried on the second pat-tern shaft; and means for actuating the auxiliary pattern mechanism controlled by the primary pattern mechanism.

6. The combination in a circular knitting machine for knitting ribbed hose, of a pattern shaft having primary pattern mechanism mounted thereon; a knotter attachment including a plurality of movable yarn guicing fingers, a swinging arm adapted to carry threads to the knotter, and selecting means adanted to engage any one of the fingers to position its thread in the path of the arm; a constantly driven cam adapted to actuate the knottcr; a second shaft; means for actuating the swinging arm and the selecting means; auxiliary pattern mechanism carried on the second shaft for controlling the operation of the knotter and the said actuating means; and means for actuating the pattern mechanism controlled by the pattern means.

7. The combination in a circular knitting machine for knitting ribbed hose, of apattern shaft having primary pattern mechanism mounted thereon; a knotter attachment including a plurality of movable yarn guiding lingers, a swinging arm adapted to carry threads to the knotter, and selecting means adapted to engage any one of the fingers to position its thread in the path of the arm; a constantly driven cam adapted to actuate the knotter; a second sliaiit;-means for actuating the swinging arm and the'selecting means; auxiliary pattern mechanism carried on the second shaft for controlling the operation of the knotter and the said actuating means; and actuating means for the auxiliary pattern mechanism including a lever adapted to be engaged by the primary pattern mechanism to cause the auxiliary pattern mechanism actuating means to function.

8. The combination in a circular knitting machine for knitting ribbed hose, of a pattern shaft having primary pattern mechanism mounted thereon; a knotter adapted to join one thread to another; means for guiding a plurality of yarns; means for selecting one of the yarns and carrying it, together with the yarn being fed to the knitting nee-V dles','to the knotter whereby the new yarn will be substituted for the old yarn and fed to the knitting needles; a second pattern shaft; auxiliary'pattern mechanism carried on the second shaft for controlling the operation of the selecting and carrying means and the knotter; and means for actuating the 

